Praise be to Allaah. (Content
provided courtesy of www.islam-qa.com)
Firstly:
Allaah
often mentions the Messiah ‘Eesa ibn
Maryam (Jesus son of Mary) in His
Book the Qur’aan for a number of
reasons, including the following:
1.
He is one of His
Prophets, indeed he is one of the
Messengers of strong will whom He
sent to His creation and His slaves.
It is obligatory to believe in him
as in all the other Prophets, as
enjoined by Allaah in the verse
(interpretation of the meaning):
“Say (O
Muslims): We believe in Allaah and
that which has been sent down to us
and that which has been sent down to
Ibraaheem (Abraham), Ismaa’eel
(Ishmael), Ishaaq (Isaac), Ya’qoob
(Jacob), and to Al-Asbaat [the
offspring of the twelve sons of
Ya’qoob (Jacob)], and that which has
been given to Moosa (Moses) and
‘Eesa (Jesus), and that which has
been given to the Prophets from
their Lord. We make no distinction
between any of them, and to Him we
have submitted (in Islam)”
[al-Baqarah 2:36]
2.
The first people whom
we should be concerned about when
calling others to Islam are the
People of the Book, i.e., the Jews
and the Christians, because they are
the closest of later nations to whom
the later Messengers were sent. Both
the Jews and the Christians knew of
the coming of Muhammad
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) and his attributes were
written in their books, the Tawraat
(Torah) and Injeel (Gospel). So they
should not deny what they find in
their books and they should hasten
to believe in him, because they
already believe in the Messengers
who came before him, unlike other
nations who worshipped idols.
Because they did not believe in the
Last Messenger
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) as they were enjoined to
do, they had to be refuted and shown
how they had distorted the message
of divine Oneness (Tawheed). This is
why they are frequently mentioned in
the verses of the Qur’aan.
3.
Tawheed (the Oneness
of God) is the basic principle upon
which everything else, both
religious and worldly affairs, is to
be built; through Tawheed people
will be saved from Hell and admitted
to
Paradise. This means affirming that
Allaah is One. We see that the Jews
and Christians differed concerning
‘Eesa ibn Maryam. The Jews said that
he was a charlatan who told lies
about God, so he had to be killed.
The Christians differed from them
greatly; some of them said that he
was God, and some of them said that
he was the son of God, but was one
with Him in the Trinity, so that
outwardly he appeared to be the son
of God but he was in fact God. And
some of them said that he was the
third person of the Trinity which is
a rejection of Tawheed. Others said
that he was a Messenger from God and
was human like the rest of mankind,
but that Allaah singled him out to
perform miracles in order to
establish proof against people. The
last group are the ones who were
right. So it was essential to
explain the matter and describe
‘Eesa in befitting terms. As with
all the other Prophets and
Messengers, it is not inappropriate
to say that he was a human being,
created from clay, whom Allaah chose
from among all of mankind to be
created without a father, as a
manifestation of the power of Allaah
to create a man outside the usual
means. The likeness of ‘Eesa before
Allaah is like Adam, as Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“Verily, the likeness of ‘Eesa
(Jesus) before Allaah is the
likeness of Adam. He created him
from dust, then (He) said to him:
‘Be!’ — and he was”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:59]
This is
the correct belief concerning the
creation of the Prophet of Allaah
‘Eesa, which was a miracle for all
the people to see.
But the
miracle of Adam’s creation is
greater. For ‘Eesa (peace be upon
him) was created without a father,
but Adam was created without a
father or a mother, and this is more
expressive of the power of Allaah to
create; it is more miraculous than
the creation of ‘Eesa (peace be upon
him). For all these reasons and
others, it was essential to explain
the issue of ‘Eesa (peace be upon
him) and put matters straight.
In
conclusion, the miracles which
Allaah gave to ‘Eesa (peace be upon
him) were just like the miracles of
all the other Prophets, to prove
that he was speaking the truth and
that he was truly a Messenger from
Allaah. But those who distorted the
religion confused the matter for the
simple-minded people and used his
miracles as a justification to say
that he was the son of God or that
he was God. All of that is a
distortion of the teachings and
message of the Messiah (peace be
upon him).
If
everyone who follows a Prophet were
to take the miracles which Allaah
bestowed upon him as a sign that he
was a god, then all the Prophets
would be gods and each Prophet would
be different from the others. For
the mountains glorified Allaah along
with Dawood (David – peace be upon
him), but they did not do so with
‘Eesa. The sea was parted for Moosa
(Moses – peace be upon him) and he
spoke with his Lord and his Lord
spoke with him, so he was known as
Kaleem-Allaah (the one who
spoke with Allaah), but this did not
happen to ‘Eesa (peace be upon him).
Allaah flooded the earth in response
to the supplication of Nooh (Noah –
peace be upon him) and that did not
happen to ‘Eesa (peace be upon him).
Allaah singled out Muhammad
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) to speak to him and to
protect his miracle from being lost
or distorted; he alone was sent to
all of mankind, and he was given
miracles that were not given to
‘Eesa. So how could that be taken to
mean that they were all gods?
Secondly:
With
regard to the view that if the
Qur’aan were not distorted there
would not be all these many sects
such as the Shi’ah and other
groups.
The
answer to that is that the Qur’aan
cannot force people to choose the
right path, because the Qur’aan is
simply guidance (and it is up to
people to choose). Allaah has warned
us about these sects and groups, and
He has forbidden us to imitate the
nations who became divided in
religious matters. Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“and
be not of Al‑Mushrikoon (the
polytheists, idolaters, disbelievers
in the Oneness of Allaah).
Of those
who split up their religion (i.e.
who left the true Islamic
Monotheism), and became sects, [i.e.
they invented new things in the
religion (Bid‘ah), and followed
their vain desires], each sect
rejoicing in that which is with it”
[al-Room 30:31-32]
“And be not as those
who divided and differed among
themselves after the clear proofs
had come to them. It is they for
whom there is an awful torment”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:105]
Allaah
has commanded them to adhere to His
Book and to follow the Sunnah (way,
path) of His Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him), as He says
(interpretation of the meanings):
“And
hold fast, all of you together, to
the Rope of Allaah (i.e. this
Qur’aan), and be not divided among
yourselves, and remember Allaah’s
Favour on you, for you were enemies
one to another but He joined your
hearts together, so that, by His
Grace, you became brethren (in
Islamic Faith), and you were on the
brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved
you from it. Thus Allaah makes His
Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses,
lessons, signs, revelations, etc.,)
clear to you, that you may be
guided”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:103]
“O you
who believe! Make not (a decision)
in advance before Allaah and His
Messenger, and fear Allaah. Verily,
Allaah is All‑Hearing, All‑Knowing”
[al-Hujuraat 49:1]
i.e., do
not say or do anything that goes
against the Book of Allaah and the
Sunnah of His Messenger
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him).
What is
meant here is that Allaah forbade
the people to split into various
groups, and He commanded them to be
united, but they followed their own
whims and desires, and they cast the
Book of Allaah behind their backs,
and if they were confused about a
verse from the Book of Allaah, they
did not refer to the Sunnah of the
Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) in order to understand it,
rather they let their own opinion
and corrupt reasoning be the judge.
All of that is not from the Qur’aan
and not from the Sunnah of the
Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him).
Thirdly:
With
regard to the question about plural
marriage in Islam and its being
forbidden in the New Testament, it
should be noted that Allaah gave
each Messenger his own laws and
path. Allaah enjoined Tawheed
(belief in the Oneness of Allaah)
upon every single Prophet whom He
sent, but the laws varied and some
of them abrogated others. Some
things that were permissible at the
time of Adam (peace be upon him)
were abrogated at the time of Nooh
(peace be upon him).
The laws
that existed at the time of Moosa
(Moses – peace be upon him) were
partially abrogated at the time of
‘Eesa (Jesus – peace be upon him),
as Allaah tells us (interpretation
of the meaning):
“To
each among you, We have prescribed a
law and a clear way”
[al-Maa’idah 5:48]
So once
this is understood, we will realize
that plural marriage did not exist
only in the law of Muhammad
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him), rather it existed in the
laws of all the previous Prophets.
For example, Ya’qoob (Jabob – peace
be upon him) had two wives and was
married to two sisters at the same
time, according to the Old
Testament, as it says in the Book of
Genesis 29:15-35.
The
father of the Prophets, Ibraaheem
(Abraham – peace be upon him) was
also married to two women, Haajar
(Hagar) and Saara (Sarah). The Old
Testament mentions that the Prophet
of Allaah Dawood (David) had seventy
or ninety-nine wives, and Sulaymaan
(Solomon) had one hundred wives.
These and other examples demonstrate
that each of the Prophets
implemented the laws that Allaah had
prescribed. Plural marriage is not
only for this ummah (nation – i.e.,
the Muslims). The fact that the
Christians do not allow it may be
for two reasons:
1 – This
is one of the laws of Allaah which
was binding before the time of
Muhammad
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him)
2 – They
introduced their own innovation and
went to extremes in this matter, as
in the case of monasticism which
they invented and which was not
prescribed for them, but they sought
to earn the pleasure of Allaah
thereby.
We ask
Allaah to guide you and to help you
find the true religion, which is
Islam, and the path of the Prophet
of Mercy
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) according to the
understanding of his noble
Companions.
And
Allaah is the Guide to the Straight
Path.
